1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hammocks, hanging beds, and the like, and more particularly, to an improved hammock/bed apparatus that may be round in shape and is supported with tension members to one or more overhead support points, thereby providing enhanced stability and structural strength over prior art hammock designs, as well as greater comfort, restfulness, health benefits, and other advantages to the user.
2. Description of Related Art
Prior art hammocks and hanging beds such as that shown in FIG. 1 have been popular for hundreds of years. Yet heretofore, the traditional hammock design has been rectangular in shape and has provided a resting and sleep environment that slopes significantly downward in the middle and upward on the ends and sides. It has not been amenable to structural enhancements that would readily and easily permit the sleeping surface to be both flexible and effectively flat, thereby resulting in greater comfort. In cases where the hammock tension is quite high, less sagging may result, but the high tension introduces even greater instability and markedly increases the propensity for flipping over of the hammock and/or falling out over the edge. Whether tension is high or not, motion of an individual using traditional hammocks is severely restricted, far more so than with an ordinary bed or couch. For two or more simultaneous users, motion, stability, strength and comfort become even more problematic. Still further, the traditional hammock design necessitates at least two support points and is thereby limited in application to environments in which two or more such supporting configurations are possible. In addition, these support points limit human traffic through that space.
Some hammock designs, such as that of Nickell and Law (U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,906) attempt to ameliorate some of the above problems by using more support points and/or spreader rods at either end of the rectangular hammock surface. Other bed designs, such as that of Haider et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,614) utilize an entire upper support structure for the bed surface, and in the case of Haider et al, then support this upper structure from a lower one which stands on the floor. These attempts have been either a minor improvement or none at all for the problems delineated above.
There is therefore, at present, no hammock or hanging bed device that is comfortable, strong, and safe, and that allows an effectively flat, yet stable, surface upon which to rest or sleep. There is further no such device which utilizes less than two external support points.